In a Word: Naruto
by Fairady
Summary: Series of unrelated drabbles for Naruto. Warnings given per drabble.
1. Wondering

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: Spoilers for after chuunin exam I suppose.

Notes: Hell with it. I get a lot of ficlets and drabbles that'd usually never see the light of day because theres nothing more to them than a few lines. I'm probably gonna end up for a fic like this in all my fandoms.

Wondering  
by Fairady

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And somedays she wonders. After a particularly hard day of training or her frequent long hours at the hospital.

Sakura wonders what Naruto is doing right now. The stiff nail brush stings as she tries to get the blood from under her nails. Knowing him he'd be shouting at his sensei to hurry up and teach him more, never mind the fact that he was about to pass out. Pink foam clings to the side of the sink as she pours more soap onto her hands.

Sakura wonders what Sasuke is doing right now. She winces as the brush draws fresh blood to add to the old. Knowing him...there was no real knowing him, not since he'd left. Water flows from the faucet washing her hands clean, she quickly scrubbed her eyes with the right one catching a few stray drops.

She tries not to wonder too often.

-

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	2. Growl

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: Spoilers for after chuunin exam I suppose.

Notes: Naruto, Akamaru, and a frisbie. Oh, and Kiba too. No point whatsoever.

In a word: Growl  
by Fairady

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Naruto growled glaring into his opponent's dark eyes. Akamaru refused to give in and growled right back adding a ferocious head shake in for good measure. Naruto dug into the ground with his knees and pulled back. Teeth tightening on the Frisbee to keep it from getting yanked away as Akamaru continued to shake his head from side to side.

Kiba, tears running down his face, gasped for sorely needed breath before starting on another howling bout of laughter.

-

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	3. Burnt

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: Beware the surprise fluff attack.

Notes: Set vaguely after the mission to rescue Sasuke.

Burnt  
by Fairady

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"Brat," Temari scowled down at her pile of blackened rolls. Gaara leaned against the kitchen wall and tried to look as innocent as he possibly could. She really didn't think it was fair that he not only pulled it off, but pulled it off with an odd charm to it that was probably the reason why the old lady running the store down the street pinched his cheek and called him 'Sweetie.' "Alright, you've got a batch of burnt bread just for you. Now stop distracting me so I can make a batch Kankurou and I can eat."

Gaara smiled slightly and seemed to be considering it while she slid another pan into the oven. Temari set the small timer and this time, dammit, she was going to hold onto the damn thing.

Several weeks ago she'd let a whole batch of bread burn, and she and Kankurou had spent the week eating the only slightly burnt insides. They'd been somewhat relieved when Gaara discovered he liked it better burnt and had happily let him eat it all.

Unfortunately the brat had liked that arrangement a little too much. Now every week when she made bread Gaara would show up to do his best to distract her.

Temari squared her shoulders and stood so she could see both Gaara and the oven at the same time. He wasn't making it easy on her as he stood directly opposite from the oven, but her peripheral had always been better than the boys gave her credit for. One twitch from him or the slightest change in the oven would instantly be seen. She'd learned her lesson when last week he'd used his sand to turn the oven dial up.

Spoiled brat.

-

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	4. Legends

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: None.

Notes: Set vaguely after the mission to rescue Sasuke.

Legends  
by Fairady

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The Three Sannin had been legends in their own right before his father had made chuunin. The tales of their power and missions were already being handed down as examples of the True Shinobi.

Time had only heightened the wonder in which the stories were told, and made the younger generation of shinobi brasher in claiming they would be just like them. That was all just fine for Shikamaru, he had no intention of doing more than what he strictly had to. So he left the ambitions and high goals to others of his class. Legends had never interested him anyway.

Though, watching the Hokage snore and drool onto her paperwork, a half full bottle of _something_ tipped precariously in one loose hand, Shikamaru was left with a cold sense of betrayal.

Legends were never really as perfect as they sounded.

-

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	5. Play

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: None.

Notes: Set vaguely after the mission to rescue Sasuke.

Play Ninja  
by Fairady

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If he holds his breath and strains hard enough he can pretend to hear the sounds of children playing in the streets through an open window. The sound isn't constant as they're running up and down the streets. Yelling as they find their targets and pelting them with cardboard kunai, screaming attack names as their ordered game of run and capture is turned into a 'war.' He can almost hear it as one of them trips up and skins their knee, a keening sob that breaks the game and sends the children home to get cleaned up.

Only there are no children and there is no window. The only sounds he hears in the waiting room is the harsh words of the Sand nin and the faint scuffing of medics beyond the door. There are no fake kunai here, only the cold steel against his thigh and the knowledge that he'll have to clean them before the blood dries completely.

The girl stares at him contempt bright and damning in her eyes. She doesn't even try to hide it, to hide how little she thinks of him. It should be a little pathetic that it's a lot higher regard than he has for himself right now.

Shikamaru squeezed his hands together tightly feeling the sharp pain in his broken finger. And that's just not fair at all. How could he get away with just a broken finger? How could he be so unharmed when everyone else was so near death?

He's too stupid and too weak to be a ninja. He should've done more, he should've done it all differently. If he were just a little bit better then his team wouldn't be this bad off. Kiba and Akamaru wouldn't be confined to a bed for recovery. Neji wouldn't be living only because the medics kept him pumped with healing chakra. Naruto wouldn't still be missing. Chouji wouldn't- Chouji-

If he closes his eyes he can pretend he hears the sound of children playing. He can pretend that it's them out there in the streets playing ninja where the worst wound to fear is a skinned knee. The game will go on, no one side winning or losing, and everyone will go home at the end of the day. If he focuses on it enough, he can almost believe it.

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	6. Psychopath

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: Death! Yay!

Notes: Set vaguely after the mission to rescue Sasuke. I love this little bit. It's just what I think should really happen with the nebulous Sasuke vs. Itachi battle.

In a word: Psychopath  
by fairady

* * *

"Why?" Sasuke gasped. Dark eyes stared up desperatly through the encroaching darkness, clear windows into the boy's soul. All of his anger, hate, fear, and confusion easily read as he begged for an answer. "Why?"

Itachi watched the last of his kin die. The little brother whom he'd watched over from birth. The boy he'd raised himself, because the rest of the clan was too busy or simply didn't care enough. Itachi watched Sasuke die and answered his foolish little brother's question.

"Why not?" Itachi asked the corpse rhetorically.

* * *


	7. Fugly

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Yaoi! Just a tad bit more descriptive than usual. Oh, and a bit of language.

Notes: Crossover. This was written for some cracked out challenge involving icons, and hell if I didn't love writing this. Shikamaru and Dorochet from FullMetal Alchemist. Two of my favorite characters.

In a word: Fugly  
by fairady

* * *

"You're such a pain in the ass," Shikamaru muttered as he twisted away.

"You seemed to like it well enough last night," Dorochet ignored the man's half-hearted struggles and easily pinned him. He leered as he nipped and sucked the bruised throat under him.

Shikamaru groaned and arched into it. "That was before the sun came up and I saw you're ugly mug in better light."

"Heh," the nin had just enough time to acknowledge he was free before rough hands flipped him over. His legs were spread and a hard cock pushed up from behind as hot breath blew over his ear. "Close your eyes then."


	8. Gutted

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Spoilers.

Notes: Spoilerish for just after the time skip arc. I like this Sakura a lot more than I thought I would.

In a word: Gutted  
by fairady

* * *

Gut wounds always hurt the worst simply because it takes a person longer to die from one than anything else. She knew that, she'd seen more than a few nin dragged into the hospital with both hands pressed tight to the wound. Most had passed out before the medics got to them, and the few that hadn't were quickly knocked out before they could start screaming. She knew they hurt, had intimate knowledge of how people reacted to them, but she almost wasn't prepared for how much it actually hurt.

The blade was fine and she barely felt it go in. The pain hadn't started until Sasori stopped pushing and the sword _jerked_. And that- that was beyond anything she'd felt before.

A wave of pain unfurled from her abdomen, tearing its way up her spine and spreading through her whole body. She could feel every inch of the blade piercing her, twisting slightly and tearing her body a little more. She could see the organs, veins, and muscles that were being destroyed. Her chakra flowed automatically to try to heal the damage before her brain had even begun to realize how fatal the wound was.

Her teeth ached from keeping the full throated scream sealed behind them and Sakura had to force herself to ignore it. Ignore it all and grab the blade with both hands. Another jerk of the blade and another wave of pain every bit as harsh as the first. She felt her knees weaken and only the knowledge that it would hurt more if she fell kept her feet under her.

She almost wasn't able to even do that, but the poison had already begun to spread through her. The numbing effect was what she'd been counting on to allow her to buy a few more moments for the older woman to gather herself. As the poison sped through her she hoped it would be enough.


	9. High

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Spoilers.

Notes: Response for the Naruto100 community on LJ. It started out somewhat seriously but then my inability to like Sasuke kicked in. Alternately titled, And Your Little Dog Too!  
Prompt: Pulling Something.  
Bonuses: Whimpering, a reference to dogs without the Inuzuka clan, Uchiha Fugaku, embarrassment, and pie.

In a Word: High  
by fairady

* * *

Sasuke hadn't slept for a week, hadn't stopped moving since retrieving the scroll Orochimaru wanted. It had taken every bit of skill he had, and more luck than he would admit to get it. He'd shame his father if he went through all of that only to get killed when returning just because he'd stopped to rest.

So he continued to run despite the pain in his leg that twisted just enough to force a high, thin noise out of his mouth, and downed stimulants every time he thought a few minutes rest couldn't hurt...

High as he was on sleep deprivation and drugs he couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed when his first act upon returning was to demand pie or he'd kill the little dog. Kabuto only sighed before removing the kunai from his throat and knocking the boy out.


	10. Alive

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Nothing really.

Notes: Response for the Naruto100 community on LJ. Huh, I wanted this to have a bit shoujo-ai overtones, but it doesn't really work. This could be seen as anything really.

Prompt: Fire

In a Word: Alive  
by fairady

* * *

"Don't you ever laugh," the children sang, their too high voices loud and out of synch with each other.

Sakura no longer bothered to chase them down and scold them anymore. They were still too young and naive to know that this place was for sorrow and not play.

"As the funeral procession goes by," The children picked up their tempo on the second verse finally getting into synch.

She smiled as she placed two sunflowers at the base of the monument. Hinata had never told her which flowers she liked best, so Sakura brought a different type each time. One of them was bound to be close.

"For you might be the next to die!" The children finished with a dramatic shriek and ran away laughing.

Tired laughter followed them as Sakura rested on aching knees. Perhaps, if she were lucky, the next mission really would be her last.

* * *


	11. Lost

Disclaimer: What Kishimoto does not own, Square owns. I think I just own the tilde, or maybe not. 

Warnings: Cractastic crossover. Bit of language and mention of sex.

Notes: Challenge from Silver who picked two characters at random and wanted them to be lost, late, in trouble, and trying to pin the blame on each other. I laughed my ass off when she picked Quistis and Kankurou. Quistis is from Final Fantasy VIII.

In a Word: Lost  
by fairady

* * *

The hill topped out giving them a nice view of unbroken forests and the next hill.

"This is all your fault," Kankurou drawled out slowly.

Quistis clenched her jaw and doggedly trudged forward. "I fail to see how your incompetence is my fault."

"My incompetence?" Kankurou smirked at the woman's back. "Weren't you supposed to be the guide?"

"I knew the way from the Garden to the city," Quistis gritted out reigning in the urge to turn and hit the bastard. "If someone hadn't insisted he knew the way and take off forcing me to run after him-"

"Not my fault you can't run," Kankurou jumped ahead landing silently next to her and felt slightly disappointed when she didn't react to his sudden movement this time.

"-and play a cat and mouse game through a heavily wooded area filled with monsters," she stubbornly refused to let his interruption phase her. "All of which led to me losing all the guiding points. Again, I fail to see how this is _my_ fault."

Kankurou snorted and let the woman take lead again, "So is that how the story is going to be? We got lost because you lost track of where you were while chasing me."

"Exactly," Quistis hissed out between her clenched teeth. She prayed to Hyne that she could get through this without grinding down all her teeth.

"Strange," he grinned as he watched her hips sway with each angry stomp. "I could've sworn the real reason was because of all the sex we had a few miles back."

Save The Queen cracked in the space Kankurou used to be, but before Quistis could swing her whip back the man was behind her pinning her arms to her sides.

"See," Kankurou laughed, hands trailing slowly up her sides, "it's all your fault. If you didn't look so damn gorgeous when you're angry we wouldn't have gotten lost."

Rough fingers edged under her clothing and Quistis argued with herself. She lost. They were completely lost with no hope of finding any directional guides until the stars came out. She supposed there were worse things to do to pass the time. It was still his fault though.

* * *


	12. Cards

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Nothing.

Notes: Another challenge from the Naruto100 community. The theme was Cards and the bonuses were Hearts, Chocolate, Something Steamy, a Cat(well Kankurou has a kitty hat right?), a Hat, and Anko.

In a Word: Cards  
by fairady

* * *

Kankurou scowled down at his hand before grudgingly passing over his four of hearts. Anko picked it up and fished out it's mate from her own hand grinning as she adjusted her visor.

"You really suck," Anko said loudly breaking open another box of chocolates.

"What the hell do ya expect?" Kankurou shot back just as loudly. "I haven't played Go Fish since I was five."

Anko laughed raucously, "What was that, last year?"

He glared at her and opened his mouth to answer, but the sudden silence stopped him. Anko pushed her visor back and looked at the door to their inn room.

"You think they're done this time?" Kankurou was tired and just wanted to get some sleep.

A sharp moan and bang answered him.

"So," Kankurou rearranged his cards, "you got any twos."

* * *


	13. Ino

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Nothing.

Notes: One of my entries for the LJ intrest drabble challenge.

Ino  
by fairady

* * *

Ino is very proud of her blood limit. It's her signature move as a member of the Yamanaka family, and she takes great pleasure in using it. She isn't careless with it though, she uses it with respect. Carefully, very carefully.

One of the first things she'd forced her teammates to learn was to care for and guard her body when her mind occupied another's. It was one of the first things her father had ever taught her. It was a short but vivid lesson that never needed to be repeated.

They'd gone to a part of the hospital she'd never seen before. It was deathly quite and sent chills up her spine. The room was plain with nothing more than a bed in it. No window or table. The gaunt remains of a man giggled at them, vacant eyes fixed somewhere to her left.

Her father introduced her to an uncle she never knew she had then, or what was left of his mind after he'd failed to notice an enemy getting too close to his body. Nothing more was said, nothing more ineeded/i to be said. Ino left just as the man began to drool.

Her teammates might bitch at having to watch her body, well Shikamaru did, but she'd done her best to impress onto them the importance of it. She hadn't needed to tell them about her trip to the hospital, but something must have shown in her eyes, because neither one has ever balked at her requests.

* * *


	14. Sakura

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Nothing.

Notes: Another of my entries for the LJ intrest drabble challenge. This was originally supposed to be about Shino, but it was more Sakura when I finished.

Sakura  
by fairady

* * *

Sakura hadn't known Shino in the academy. He was the quiet boy in the back of the classroom that Ino had steered clear of because he was creepy. _Creepy Shino,_ and the girls had all shuddered when he walked by, so Sakura hadn't known much about him at all until the Chuunin exam.

Creepy had been pretty accurate. Sakura's skin crawled at the thought of all those bugs waiting just below the surface. She felt like the little girl she wasn't anymore when he walked behind her after his match. The little girl shuddered at the faint puff of displaced air, but it was the ninja she was becoming that made her turn to study him.

* * *


	15. Akamaru

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Nothing.

Notes: Another of my entries for the LJ intrest drabble challenge. Why the hell did I put Akamaru down as an interest? He's hard to write for!

Akamaru  
by fairady

* * *

The scent of food drifting into the class was enticing. Kiba did his level best to ignore it, and actually tried to concentrate on taking notes for once. As boring as the lecture was he couldn't afford another detention. His mom had finally gotten fed up with it and was threatening to ground him during the upcoming festival. Kiba ignored the rumbling of his stomach and kept his eyes on Iruka.

Akamaru, however, had no plans to act any different than usual. The scent of food had perked the pup's interest, and he squirmed around on top of Kiba's head demanding to know when he would be fed. When no immediate answer was given the pup squirmed off of Kiba landing on the floor with a thump loud enough to draw the attention of the whole class.

Ignoring Kiba's hissed commands to stay still, Akamaru ran to the open window and started barking. Demanding that they find that nice scent even as Iruka's face turned a livid red. Kiba mentally shrugged deciding that if he was going to get a detention anyway he might as well make the best of it.

* * *


	16. GenderBender

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Cracked out as per usual. Gender-bender.

Notes: An entry to the Naruto100 community for the Gender-Bender challenge. Don't get me wrong, I really do like Kankurou. I just couldn't resist this.

Gender-Bender  
by fairady

* * *

Temari had tried being sympathetic. She really had. Kankurou was her little brother so it was sort of her duty to help him in his time of confusion. It was just that as the month wore on, and the dead Mist nin's jutsu showed no sign of wearing off, she felt her patience slipping. There was only so much screaming and panicking one woman could stand after all.

Speaking of which...

Kankurou's, now familiarly high pitched, scream echoed through the house. Temari pushed her plate back with a long suffering sigh and waited.

She didn't have to wait long as Kankurou barreled through the kitchen door glaring angrily at her. Face pale in equal parts horror and rage, he held out a pair of bloody panties, "I want my penis back!"

Temari had tried to be sympathetic. She _really_ had, but no one should blame her for throwing back her head and laughing until she hurt.

* * *


	17. Hellacious

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Cracked out as per usual. Gender-bender.

Notes: A follow up to the Naruto100 community for the Gender-Bender challenge. Keitorin gave me the idea for this one, and I ran with it. Yeah, I'm exaggerating things a bit, but hell if it wasn't fun writing this!

Hell's Belles  
by fairady

* * *

The door slowly opened just enough to allow Gaara to hear more clearly. The house was silent, absolutely nothing was moving. Deciding to risk it he pushed his way out of the guest room's closet. The damaged there was minimal as usual, only a few broken vases and torn pillows. It only got worse as he cautiously made his way through the house.

Furniture lay splintered, broken glass covered everything, the floors were covered in deep splintering scratches, and the thick scent of blood filled the house. Shukaku stirred in his cage at it hissing to be allowed to get his share, but Gaara firmly ignored him. He knew from past experience that this was something that he should retreat from as quickly and silently as he could.

The front door was splintered open and beyond it he could see the huddled form of a man. It looked like one of Temari's horde of suitors. Gaara almost felt pity for the fool. The creak of shifting floor boards spurred startled him, and he threw caution aside to sprint for the open door.

He almost made it.

"Gaara," the pure _malice_ in the voice froze him a mere foot from freedom, "where are you going?"

Eyes wide he reluctantly turned to face his sisters. Temari's hair flared out wildly around her perfectly matching the wild look in her eyes as her fan tapped ominously against the floor. Kankurou's eyes were still bloodshot from her earlier crying fit, but her hands moved Karasu smoothly. Both women glared him down with murderous looks that swore vengeance and eternal pain to all things male.

Gaara's whimper was echoed by Shukaku.

* * *


	18. Chouji

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Bit dark with some death.

Notes: ANother response for the LJ interest challenge which I'm badly neglecting.

Chouji   
by fairady

* * *

Ino had left several hours ago looking confused and a little frustrated. She was a good friend despite her forcefulness, but Chouji had been relieved to see her go this time. He'd been forced to divide his attention between his teammates by playing interference every time it looked like Ino was going to try something. 

She was a good friend. She just hadn't known Shikamaru as long as Chouji had, and didn't know that her tears and her condolences were the absolute last thing Shikamaru would be able to tolerate. Now Chouji could finally turn his full attention to his friend.

"Shikamaru," Chouji reached down to touch the other's shoulder. "Let's get something to eat."

Shikamaru didn't answer, but he slowly stood up and turned from his parent's graves. Chouji steered him towards the nearest place that smelled somewhat decent talking the whole time. Shikamaru'd had enough silence and condolences, what he needed now was a good friend and a lot of talk. Chouji was determined to give plenty of both.

* * *


	19. Duty

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Sandcest implied, and very AU.

Notes: Another response for the LJ interest challenge. I've had this massive AU plot based on the Grimm tale, "All-kinds-of-fur." Except the version I first read had the princess marrying her father in the end. Don't ask how this translated into the Sand siblings. Eh, it'll never get written though.

By Blood But Not Spirit   
by fairady

* * *

"I don't see what your problem is," Temari leaned against the balcony rail. 

"Well, gee sis. Lets start out with the fact that he's my brother!" Kankurou scowled at the bored looking woman. "Does that fact mean anything to anyone else besides me?"

"Not really," Temari smirked. "I've never seen either of you in my life. We might share our blood, but I have friends in the mountains that are more family to me than either of you are. Gaara must feel the same."

"Che," she only spoke the truth. Kankurou did feel closer to his troupe than he did with either of his own blood kin. "Fine, how about the little fact that I'm not being given a choice in this matter?"

Temari snorted derisively, "You're a prince, Kankurou. You've never had a say in chosing you're life. You'd eventually be told to marry some dignitary's daughter or some lord's son. At least this way you won't have to give up much," she turned to look at him. "I envy you that."

He opened his mouth to protest, the wistful look in her eyes stopped him. The lords and ladies of the court were already talking about cementing an alliance with a neighboring kingdom through a marriage as one of the more prominent families had an eligble son. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"No," Temari agreed as she left, "but that's life."

* * *


	20. Distraction

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: None

Notes: Got bored at work, and think the whore/flirting as a distraction has gotten old. Doesn't mean I'll stop using it though.

Distraction   
by fairady

* * *

Usually when someone said, "Let's use a distraction," all eyes would turn to Ino, and within the hour she'd find herself wearing more skin than cloth and posing as a whore. Surprisingly, considering how that type of distraction seemed to be the only one kunochi were expected to know, it worked more often that not. Which just sucked because she hated doing it. 

She'd almost kissed Shikamaru when he declared they were going to try something different. The urge was quickly replaced with the need to kill the lazy bastard when he said she was still going to be the distraction. That was a few hours ago though, and she was reconsidering her first impulse.

Ino sat at the bar trying to look dangerous, and succeeded well enough that there was a perpetual three foot bubble of space around her. The bartender hadn't asked once for money, and even the men drunk enough to make passes at their friends weren't drunk enough to come near her.

She sneered at a few men she caught eyeballing her, allowing her anger and intent to kill to show in her eyes. They quickly looked away and the already hushed conversation dimmed down even more. Yep, no common whore for a distraction this time. So far no one had made the mistake of assuming Ino was a common anything, which was good for them because she had permission to kill and maim as she saw fit.

Ino smirked, well aware that every eye in the place was on her as she continued to carve abstract figures into the wooden bar with a badly weighted dagger. It was huge and kinda dull. The furthest you could get from her thin yet deadly sharp kunai, but it was more for show than anything else. Every few minutes she'd take a swipe at the closest man with it, just to watch them all jump. She couldn't help laughing at their faces. Good thing it only helped her mission out more.

With so much attention on the potentially volatile woman, no one noticed the man walk out from the back room and out the door. Ino gave Shikamaru a good five minutes before viciously stabbing the dagger hilt deep into the bar and tipping her stool backwards. The whole room jumped when it clattered to the floor. Not a single person in the room dared to look up as she walked out. She could almost hear the collective sigh of relief through the closed door as she took off.

She honestly didn't know why she couldn't use this type of distraction more often. It was awesome.

* * *


	21. Beholder

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: None

Notes: Hm, OOC, I know. As it stand in the series now, neither Sakura nor Naruto will be able to seriously harm Sasuke. It's not a power issue as much as a mental one. I like toying with the thought of what it would take to push one of them into actually killing him. This isn't that fic though, this is just the end of it from Sasuke's point of view.

The Beholder   
by fairady

* * *

It strikes Sasuke, suddenly, that Sakura is beautiful.

It hits him with about the same force as the punch that had completely blindsided him. Making him lose his grip on the blade he was shoving through Naruto's chest. It was just as shocking as the flurry of blows that followed to push him back. Too fast and steady to get around, and too strong to just block. The surprise of finding himself under Sakura, one hand pinning his head to the ground the other drawing back for one last hit, is nothing compared to the surprise of _seeing_ her in that moment.

Her own blood soaks her torn clothes, green eyes wide and blazing with anger, chakra cracking from around her fist that's soaked in others' blood, muscles tensed for the final blow. And it is final. There is no hesitation in Sakura in that moment. No doubt that she will kill him.

In that moment, Sasuke thinks he could love her.

* * *


	22. Special

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: None

Notes: Yeah, not a big Sasuke fan as I'm sure you could tell. I do like Shikamaru though.

Special   
by fairady

* * *

When Uchiha returned to Konoha he got special treatment. Nothing new there, he'd been treated with kid gloves from the moment his clan was wiped out. Konoha hadn't wanted to lose one of it's precious bloodlines, and would willingly overlook a good many things to accommodate the last Sharingan user. Uchiha had counted on that leniency when he'd learned all he could from Orochimaru, and turned himself over to the Hokage. He hadn't been disappointed. 

The Council had raised hell over the mere suggestion that Uchiha be executed. In a rare show of unity they'd overruled all others to keep him alive. His power and his bloodline canceled out any wrong he'd done as far as they were concerned. Uchiha was allowed back into the fold with only a slap on the wrist for punishment. And everyone was supposed to just sit back and accept it without protest.

For the most part they had. Naruto and Sakura had thrown themselves into welcoming him back and going about the business of forgetting everything that had happened. No surprise there. The others... Well, power was power, and most of them were too worn and tired to care that much who was helping them on missions. So Uchiha was welcomed back among his friends and peers without comment.

Just as he'd counted on no doubt.

It burned. Something too large and awful, in the back of Shikamaru's mind, a lot like the feeling he'd had years ago waiting in the hospital to see who would live through the night. The desperate knowledge that if they made it through that night, just one night, they would most likely continue to live. It makes it obvious that for as long as he can see the skeletal form of Chouji, the mangled bit of fur Kiba'd clutched so desperately, and the gaping holes in Neji he will never be able to welcome the Uchiha as easily as the others.

Hate is such a troublesome thing, but it's something that he willingly admits he feels about the Uchiha. It's also something that he'll put aside on occasion for his friends' sakes. To make a gathering relaxing, or a celebration happy. It's something that he'll only do for them.

_This_ has nothing to do with them. _This_ is unacceptable.

Shikamaru waited for the door to close before turning to the Hokage. Tsunade looked up as the masked Captain stood directly before her desk and sighed, "I know."

It never hurt to reiterate things. Especially when the politicians wanted to get involved. "I don't care what the advisors or anyone else wants. He is not going to be allowed to become ANBU."

Tsunade closed her eyes and leaned back. The fact that ANBU, that _Shikamaru_, would kill the Uchiha before even considering him as a member goes unsaid. They'd had this conversation before. "I know, Captain. I won't allow it to happen."

Shikamaru nodded curtly and stepped back into position. "Just remember that when Naruto and Sakura come to see you."

Uchiha got special treatment from everyone just for being Uchiha, but Shikamaru would be damned if he allowed the traitor to get everything he wanted.

* * *


	23. Drop

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: AU is for Alternate University!

Notes: The reason I've been writing Shika a bit more lately is because I'm RPing him on a college AU thing. Pretty fun, in it Shika's in the Guard and I've been having fits over imagining him going through boot camp. It's the only place I know of where the only way to spend as little energy as possible is to do exactly as you're told.

Drop!  
by fairady

* * *

Small drops of moisture splashed onto the concrete turning it darker in random small circles. If he stared at it hard enough he could almost make himself believe it was from the first few drops of a nice and cool storm.

"Nara!" The sudden booming voice from three inches away made him flinch, dislodging a few more drops of sweat. "Why the hell is your ass so high in the air? You waiting for your _boyfriend_ to pay you a visit? Get your back straight and push!"

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!" Moderating his posture, he knocked out a few push-ups faster than his arms would have liked. He didn't let his shaking arms fail him until the shiny boots at the corner of his eye turned away.

What the hell had possessed him to do this?

"That's just pitiful! Jonesy can't do another push-up! Here's an idea, why don't the rest of you keep pushing until Jonesy can do another fifty!"

Shikamaru groaned and let his head smack onto the wet concrete for one precious second before pushing himself back up. What the _hell_ had he been thinking?

* * *


	24. Superhero

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: This superhero AU is brought to you by the companies of WTF!? and the Appreciation Association of Crack.

Notes: Written for Fangses on LJ. Pure crack and off the top of my head. I do actually pity Sasuke in this, poor guy doesn't- wait... Yes, yes he does deserve this.

The Amazing Beautiful Green Beast!  
by fairady

* * *

The Beautiful Green Beast smiled as the police officers led the criminal away in handcuffs. The young man offered no resistance and actually latched onto them, thanking them profusely. It never ceased to amaze and hearten Lee how one of his mentor's uplifting speeches about Youth and Duty could move even the most hardened of criminals onto the path of righteousness. It also never failed to bring him to tears how _earnest_ some of them were at turning over a new leaf after only a few minutes of listening to his speech.

"Don't you dare start crying on me, Beast," one of the many police officers milling in the streets said after seeing the threatening sparkle in the superhero's eyes. Captain Uchiha Sasuke took a prudent step back as the Beast turned to him.

"It's such a beautiful thing, Captain!" Lee manfully held back his tears though. Crying was a wonderfully expressive way to show how moved he was, and to even think of stifling them would betray himself. However, past interactions with the Captain had taught him that the reserved man found such displays highly disturbing. In respect for their professional relationship, Lee often found himself compromising his ideals in order to not upset the man. "That young man has seen the errors of his ways, and is still full of enough youthful energy to-"

"Save it for the criminals!" Uchiha snapped, already massaging his head as the migraine that had been threatening for the past few hours finally materialized.

The frequency of the Captain's headaches was worrisome to Lee. He considered the officer a friend and had once offered some health advice taken straight from the original Beautiful Green Beast, but the Captain had harshly declined it. Which was understandable upon later reflection, the rigorous diet and exercise regimen was something that only an enhanced human could hope to survive.

Silence fell between the two men as the criminal was transported away and the media blitz slowly dispersed. Uchiha didn't seem to notice the silence, still concentrating on directing his men in the breakdown of the barricades and command center. Lee however tensed and felt a little of his faded adrenalin return. Now was the time for his most difficult task of the day. Far more difficult than talking down an edgy bank robber with a gun and several hostages. Slowly clenching his hands into fists he swore to himself that if he failed in this last mission he would run backwards across the country one hundred times while blind-folded and juggling weights!

The Beautiful Green Beasts of past and present, while not _needing_ help, were always properly grateful to any who offered it as pure common courtesy. Especially when said aid came from their unpowered comrades in arms, the police who fought side by side with them to ensure Justice prevailed and the World was made into a better place!

Perhaps it was a bit shady to wait for the Captain to be so obviously distracted, but, for someone who claimed to be normal, the man was almost superhuman in his ability to dodge. Captain Uchiha, being the reserved and humble man he was, often went out of his way to discourage Lee's frequent displays of gratitude, but Lee was less inclined to accommodate the man in this area of his ideals standing firm in his belief that the officer deserved to be thanked for his work. Thus, with the Captain otherwise occupied, Lee jumped at the opportunity.

The patrol cops saw it coming before Uchiha did, and stopped their work to enjoy the show.

"Captain Uchiha!" What would have been a snappish order was turned into a grunting wheeze as Uchiha was forcibly lifted off his feet and squeezed tightly in the infamous 'Green Beast Hug of Thanks!' "Your courage and diligent duty to the safety of the innocent public is nothing short of heroic! My thanks and admiration for you knows no bounds!"

Dropping the now gasping Captain, the Beautiful Green Beast gave one last shining smile and thumbs-up before speeding away into the sunset. Uchiha staggered on his feet and glared mutely at his men who were doing a poor job of hiding their laughter. Not for the first, or last, time he cursed the _whim_ that had sent him to a city were he had to work with the Beasts. Had he known what he was getting himself into at the time he would've requested to be sent to a desert city instead. The goddamn Shukaku couldn't be any worse.

* * *


	25. Shino

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: None.

Notes: So, the LJ interest challenge sorta fell to the wayside when midterms started threatening. I'm still trying though! So here's a bit of Shino who really needs to talk more in the anime because his voice is- well, nevermind.

Shino   
by fairady

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It's not that he doesn't know. There is no way Shino can miss the stigma his family name carries in Konoha. It's hard not to notice how everyone falls back from an Aburame in a crowd. Giving them just enough space to make it obvious they are being avoided. No one tries very hard to hide their whispered speculation on, "_how much do you think is still human?"_

Shino knows perfectly well the stigma carried by his name, sees it every day in the shivers of people edging away from him. He just doesn't care that much about it.

He doesn't feel the overwhelming need to make friends, Kiba and Hinata are more than enough for him. If he ever wanted more all he has to do is look to the other teams that have come to accept him. So he's quite content in being silently shunned.

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	26. SexEd

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: None.

Notes: Yes, another scene that demanded to be written and then fiercely resisted all attempts to flesh it out.

Sex-Ed   
by fairady

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"So, when're you going to tell your kids about the birds and the bees?" Anko asked.

"Sex-Ed?" Kurenai looked up from her cup. "I thought the children were taught that in the Academy."

"Yeah," Anko took another drink, "back when they used to put unsuspecting shinobi into teaching it."

Kurenai, now curious, supplied Anko with the line she needed, "What happened?"

"Well, one year the Hokage had secured the help of a jounin who wouldn't mind teaching the class. Everything was set to go until Iruka found out who it was," Anko grinned glancing towards Kakashi. "He utterly lost his mind."

Genma leaned back and laughed, "I remember that. I've never seen so many high level jounin run in fear from a chuunin before."

"Konoha's most powerful and secret weapon," Kakashi said ruefully, "A chuunin of no particular notice."

"Iruka?" Kurenai snickered. "You have to be joking!"

"Hm, you think so?" Kakashi said, "Alright, next time you meet him try to get your students to do something he doesn't want them to do. Just go ahead and try it."

"Just the students, Kakashi?" Anko asked slyly. "As it is I happen to remember there was a rather pitiful jounin who slunk around with his tail between his legs for days after a rather scathing scolding last week."

"Yes," Kakashi replied the glint in his eye belying his bland tone. "He does have that effect on people. I wonder how he'd like to know about a certain woman who cut Naruto last week."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, but I would."

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	27. Mentor

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Bits of OOC.

Notes: And we get to see the results of the previous drabble. I think if Kakashi had to give The Talk he'd just read from his books until his team stopped blushing, and then he'd untie them. In the little world inside my head, Sakura would promptly ask for some clarification.

Crash Course   
by fairady

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Kakashi was enjoying the third volume of Icha Icha Paradise when Sakura knocked on the door. The escalating force of the knocks and the barely heard mumbling that he was better off not understanding only confirmed that it was in fact his former student. Kakashi considered waiting another twenty minutes, but there was no reason to subject the bundle of nerves accompanying her to the sight of Sakura giving one of her infamous orations on Kakashi's ancestry.

Pity, she'd been getting rather inventive with it in the past six months, and Kakashi was eagerly waiting to hear how his fourth great-uncle had a torrid affair with a pig and his second great-grandmother's cross-eyed bastard child. He opened the door just as Sakura was opening her mouth to begin.

"Sakura," He smiled pleasantly, looking to left he continued, "Lee. What a surprise. Sorry it took me so long to open the door. You see there was a hunting dog and a rabbit-"

"Liar," Sakura ducked under Kakashi's arm and headed straight for his bedroom. "I need to borrow something."

Lee shifted nervously in the hallway, clearly unsure of what to say. Kakashi briefly wondered if he should be worried, but Sakura's footsteps passed most of his weapons and stopped at the bookshelf. The rustle of scrolls and books being pushed aside assured him her intentions, while most likely not pleasant, at least weren't murderous.

"So, Lee," Sakura sneezed violently and her muttered curses about Kakashi's lack of house keeping made Lee blush. Cute. Kakashi often wondered how the kid was going to deal with the girl when even that little bit of temper made him flustered. "I heard you're looking to become a Chuunin."

"Yes!" Lee looked happy to have a topic he could grab onto, and in his usual fashion he grabbed it with both hands and ran with it. "I have been training hard so that this time I will surely-"

Kakashi tuned out the enthusiastic speech out of habit. The kid really was too much like Gai for his own good sometimes. The distinctive sound of paper ripping turned his attention back to Sakura. He hoped she wasn't using one of his half-written reports. The Hokage was already throwing fits over them being a little late, and he'd hate to have to start all over again.

Lee was just winding down, probably declaring one of those rules Gai seemed to like so much, when Sakura rejoined them, and placed a small parcel in his hands. It looked like she'd used the scroll with his grocery list on it. "Here, Lee."

Lee took it gravely, if a bit hesitantly. "Are you sure it's alri-"

Kakashi smiled and waved the question away, "No problem at all. I'll expect it back of course."

"Of course!" Lee exclaimed. "Uh, what type of training technique is-"

"You need to read all of it before you see me again tomorrow," Sakura cut him off, expression serious and intent. "I've put bookmarks at the places you really need to study, so it shouldn't take you long at all."

The kid was gone before the word 'challenge' could even pass through Kakashi's mind. "The second volume?"

"First," Sakura smiled slightly stepping out of the apartment. "Thanks for letting me borrow one of your books, Sensei."

"I already said it wasn't a problem," A vague thought stirred in his mind, reminding him he should probably be doing something right about now. "Do you need anything else? Condoms, lube?"

"No, I've got everything I need," Sakura replied and left with a cheery wave.

Kakashi smiled just a touch wistfully as he closed the door. It was always times like this that he thought of what it would've been like to have kids of his own. It never went beyond the first night listening to it's wails though, which was why he had his students. He got to do all the cool fatherly things with them, and could go to sleep at night safe in the knowledge that they _weren't_ his kids.

Kakashi spent the rest of the day trying to remember exactly what kind of sex talk he'd given his students, and how much of a shock Lee was in for.

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	28. Reprieve

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Sandcest if you squint.

Notes: I have absolutely nothing to say about this.

Small Reprieve   
by fairady

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Kankurou's back was broad and pale with barely any scars marring it. One advantage to using puppets to fight. Temari traces one thin scar that curves just under his right shoulder blade. More fascinated at the contrast between her tanned hands and his pale skin than the scar itself.

He was far too pale to be a proper child of the desert. She remembers a time long ago when his skin used to be darker than hers, but not any more. His clothes cover all but the tips of his fingers and portions of his painted face.

The tan lines he has are strange to say the least.

She's found herself oddly entranced with his bare hands on more than one occasion. A dark brown that stops abrubtly between the first and second knuckle of the fingers. It looks like he dipped them in something that has permanently stained them. And maybe he has. There's no way for her to tell what is in those chemicals he uses to treat his puppets.

Temari wonders if he's allowed to tell her about that as she picks up her marker again. Probably not, the Theater has been known to kill to keep it's secrets. The purple ink is easily absorbed by his skin, though she has to go over the lines that intersect with his scars a second time. Kankurou is just starting to wake up when she tosses the marker away and leans back to admire her work.

"What the hell're you doing?" He demands sleepily.

"Nothing," She's a little dissapointed that she hadn't had enough time to shade in parts of the ferret on his back, but she could do that tomorrow.

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	29. Nursie

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: None.

Notes: I worked at a Halloween store a few months ago, and the Candy Striper costume always sent me into fits. How it went from there to this I do not understand.

Candy Striper  
by fairady

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Red Striper. The term was positively archaic. The medic nin had moved away from the striped garb that had spawned it decades ago. The stripes had been too conspicuous in the field, too much of a liability when the enemy was just looking for ways to hurt them.

Despite not being in practice for so long, the term had never actually died. It's habit for some, and tradition for others. Nothing wrong with that. If she bothered to look it up she could probably find facts to support that it was actually healthy for the patients, at the very least if she went to look it up she'd lose the urge to throttle her teammates.

Naruto's grin couldn't get any wider as he faked a wounded tone, "So you're not going to wear the outfit we spent _so much time_ looking for? We had to fight to the death to get this just for you."

Sai looked from Sakura to the indecently skimpy nurses outfit, face never wavering from his usual smile, "I told you we should have gotten her the one with the full face mask. She's too scary to show her face."

Sakura ended up wearing the Hokage robe Naruto had gotten over the ridiculous costume to Ino-pig's party. If she kept the robe closed at the bottom she passed as a fairly good likeness of Tsunade. Naruto and Sai had a much harder time passing themselves off as the other Sannin wrapped up as they were in slightly bloodied bandages.

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	30. Surprise

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Dark, character death.

Notes: Follow up to IWCT's fic "A Horrible Thing to Do." You can read it here; Screw it, won't let me put the URL up here, so check my profile for the link.

Heh, I decided that Shika just needed to have a little of his own back. I had a hell of a time getting Sasuke from sitting to trapped. Hope I really got that transmission smoothed out.

Surprise   
by fairady

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The baby slept peacefully, Sharingan deactivated and tiny hands balled up into fists. Chakra drain had almost killed the child within hours of it's birth. The medics had been frantic in feeding chakra into it and trying to deactivate the Sharingan. Sasuke had been forced to threaten the whole ward, and even had to physically restrain Sakura after cutting the chakra feed off.

As he'd expected, when death was the only other option, the baby had deactivated the Sharingan on it's own.

Sasuke sat in the dark room and watched his son intently. The red eyes had thoroughly surprised him in the hospital, the hours between leaving that place and putting the boy to sleep had given him time to think.

It really shouldn't have been a surprise. The Sharingan had been appearing at progressively younger ages in the Clan, and the Clan had fully encouraged that. Had they lived it would have taken only a few more generations for Uchiha children to be born with the ability already manifested.

It was rather appropriate that his heir be the first.

Clouds moved across the moon causing the shadows in the room to shift across the boy's face. Tomorrow he would have to send notice back to the hospital of the boy's name. Sasuke frowned, he'd have to pick a name from the gravesite then. A proper Uchiha name for the boy.

The boy would need a caretaker as well. Not his mother, women got too emotional over their children. The last thing he needed would be for that woman to get attached to his son. Sakura perhaps- No, Sakura would have the same problem. He would call Ino then. Her jealousy would make her an adequate caretaker. She could take care of all of the boy's basic needs, and avoid getting too emotionally attached to him.

Satisfied for the moment with his plans, Sasuke turned his full attention to the presence that had invaded his house an hour ago. No mere thief would have bypassed so many rooms filled with the Uchiha's wealth, and the man's caution ruled out a direct challenge to Sasuke.

Just another assassin then.

Sasuke felt his lips curl in a sneer as the man finally made his way down the hall. The extreme caution bordered on hesitation, the assassin was already having second thoughts. Probablly some shinobi too weak to make it past Chuunin. It would be too easy for Sasuke to kill the intruder, boringly so, but it would set a bad precedence if he started allowing assassins to live now.

He'd given the man enough time to turn tail and run, he might as well get the task over with. Rolling to his feet, he considers his options. A single blow would end it quickly, but now that he has his heir to think of he needs to make an example. It wouldn't do for the child to be killed by an assassin. Perhaps leaving his dismembered corpse at the gates of the compound would send a clear enough message.

Smirking, Sasuke turned to track the annoying presence down, but his body didn't move. A curse caught in his throat as he activated the Sharingan, pushing chakra through his body to find and destroy what bound him. Too late he noticed there was no presence in the hall, and his hand -chest high and he hadn't done it- whiped out. Fingers releasing something he didn't hold, but the metal burned as it slid into his neck from behind just as the unseen bonds disappeared.

Immediately his body went numb and his legs folded under the dead weight. Damn the man, it was drugged! Sasuke hit the floor hard but didn't feel a single thing. The Sharingan, one second too late, showed him how the shadows in the room were thicker than they should be. Tendrils of shadow slithered away from the dark corners and collapsed behind him. He didn't need to turn his head, paralyzed as he was by the senbon protruding from his neck, to know who was there. The click of a lighter and faint wiff of smoke was also not needed.

"N- Na-" _Damn_ the man, he hadn't needed to disable his voice box as well.

Sandaled feet walked around him and the ninja crouched down. The Sharingan's faint image of a face and cigarette was replaced by the solid image of Nara lifting his lit cigarette in a lazy salute, "Yo."

Sasuke growled, the blood in his throat making it warble a little. He'd been expecting something like this from the man for months. Finding the identies of the ANBU had been easier than finding the identity of the one who was blocking his admission. He had been expecting some sort of a visit from Nara to tell him to drop his suit for a while, but he hadn't expected the meeting to be so violent.

He had counted on Nara not wanting to upset his already dangerous position with their shared friends. It was a mistake on his part, just as it had been a mistake not to immediately investigate the intrusion to his home. Underestimating Nara was not something he would do again.

"Hey, you done yet?" Nara flicked ashes into his cupped hand. Sasuke glared at him and arched one eyebrow. "Well, guess I shouldn't be surprised. You're not one for noticing things right in front of you. I guess I could explain..." Nara trailed off sucking thoughtfully on the cigarette before shaking his head. "Nah, too much trouble."

To explain how Sauske shouldn't be ANBU? The man really was lazy. The Sharingan saw a hand reaching for the senbon and Sasuke prepared himself for the first strike, anger quickly consuming all his surprise. Concentrated as he was on just how much he was going to hurt the other man he almost missed the ghostly gout of blood.

Eyes widening Sasuke saw the image of the hand violently ripping the senbon out, tearing through the throat mere seconds before it was done. Muscles paralyzed and unable to do anything. "D- da-"

Nara was nowhere to be seen. All that Sasuke could see was the growing pool of blood and the fast approaching darkness.

-

Shikamaru slipped the butt and ashes into a pouch and pulled out a glass vial. Once opened the chemical inside quickly dissipated, nullifying the scent of smoke and blood from the room. Uchiha twitched on the floor, the last spasms of the dead body. Shikamaru felt oddly pleased that the look of surprised fury would be locked on the man's face when rigor mortis set in.

Movement drew his attention to the bed, and the small bundle on top of it. The baby blinked his small eyes open as he looked at the corpse and blood pool. The boy's eyes, no doubting they were Sharingan eyes, turned upward as Shikamaru leaned over the bed. The red quickly dissipated and turned dark, chakra most likely already drained.

It wouldn't do to leave the child here. As long as this boy lived, Shikamaru would be protected from his actions. The Elders honestly wouldn't care, just so long as they had one possesor of the Sharingan bloodline. If the child died however...

Whatever, it was done. He reached down and wrapped the child up in the blankets, awkwardly holding the baby he walked out of the house and into the streets. He wondered, on the way back to the hospital, if either of the child's parents had thought to give the boy a name yet.

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	31. Retired

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Future fic.

Notes: Ah, poor Shika. He's fated to die in his sleep of old age when he's around a hundred. And he'll spend every single day of his life working as a shinobi whether he likes it or not.

Retirement   
by fairady

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No one ever sees any retired shinobi in a Village. That was because there was no such thing as a retired shinobi. Sure, once a guy got old enough to slow down, weak enough to be a liability instead of an asset, and cranky enough to want to _stay home, dammit_, then they were taken off the active roster. They were never removed from the list completely though. Only death could do that, and these days even that wasn't a solid guarantee anymore.

No, a shinobi never retired, not even when he was no longer pulling missions.

That thought, or a variation of it, flitted through Shikamaru's head at least once a day as he watched over his shougi parlor. Especially on the days when he knew there were shinobi around him. His eyesight wasn't what it used to be; one eye completely filmed over with the cataract he'd never bothered going to a doctor for, and the other had never been quite right after a kunai had luckily missed it's mark and hit his eye instead. He could still see well enough to pick the nin out of the crowd of civilians though.

They moved too fluidly to be anything but trained, or they moved with too much clumsiness to be anything but feigned. Sometimes, if he felt particularly benevolent, he'd take those that were really bad about it aside and tell them what to do to correct it. Only sometimes though, and only to those he knew were from Konoha.

It really would suck if he were revealed as a shinobi from Konoha living so close to Sunagakure. And despite what his aching bones and shaking hands might want, Shikamaru really wanted to live a while longer. If for no other reason than he'd miss the interesting people who regularly came through his parlor.

Like the latest group.

A fat man, still young when compared to Shikamaru, grinned in triumph as he moved a piece across the board. A novice player, but he had enough money on him to afford loosing a few more games. A merchant then. Not well off enough to hire permanent security, but just enough to pay for escorts.

It's a Genin team, and their sensei leaned against the wall looking at nothing, but Shikamaru felt the hair on his arm crawl. When he looked down he wasn't surprised at all to see one tiny bug resting on the table. Picking it up and placing it on his arm got the Jounin to raise one eyebrow, but nothing else.

A girl sat next to the client, a polite distant away and looked completely absorbed by the game. The way her fingers twitched every time the man pats her head, calling her a lucky charm, gave her anger away though. Shikamaru figured the client had all of two and a half more games before the girl lost it and belted him a hard one.

The other two are luckier. Shikamaru can see them sitting just outside the door. They're probably meant to keep watch, but the two boys seemed more concerned in coaxing a lizard out of it's hole than watching for any danger. One of them grinned with sharp teeth as he finally pulled it out by it's own tail. The other boy immediately started clamoring to hold it.

It's interesting to watch these children, to think about whose blood mingled with another's to create them. The possibilities are limitless and he can just as easily trace the girl's anger to Ino as Sakura. The Jounin's aplomb to Shino as Hinata. The sharp toothed boy's grin to Kiba as Sasuke. The jumping boy's exuberance to Naruto as Lee. It's not as interesting as watching clouds, but the day is cloudless and they do for a distraction.

When they leave, the client a little poorer and limping from a vicious hit, Shikamaru nods at the Jounin's politely framed prod for information. He sees Ibiki and maybe even Iruka in the way the man fishes for his name. A shout that sounds an awful lot like TenTen or even Chouji draws the man reluctantly away. The fight is ended quickly and Shikamaru sees his own scowl and a Hyuuga's disdainful sniff in the boys.

With one last glance back, the Jounin leads his team away. Shikamaru waits for the bug on his arm to fly away before allowing himself to smirk. He almost wished he could follow them, just to see how many days it took the Jounin to realize he left the parlor with one more scroll than he came in with.

Running his own shougi parlor in the Wind Country wasn't what he'd imagined for himself when he was younger, but in the grand scheme of things, being an informant/contact wasn't such a bad thing for a not-retired shinobi.

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	32. Block

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: None.

Notes: Pointless scene about sparing.

Artists Block   
by fairady

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Sai stared at the blank scroll, idly wondering what he should draw. It wasn't a good idea for him to just keep reusing the same forms every time. As an artist and a shinobi, predictability was a deadly mistake. It left him in a bit of a situation though.

Wolves, lions, and dragons were right out. Sai had been using those forms far too much lately. Snakes were right out for obvious reasons, and -as much as he'd like to- so were boars for less obvious reasons. Bears were too simple, not enough of a challenge. Dogs were too close to wolves for the untrained eye, and all good artists always took into account the stupidity of their audience.

He drew a simple line and stared at it for a moment. No sudden flash of inspiration came to him though, and he was left with a useless line on the scroll. He thinks this must be close to what vexation feels like.

"SAI!" Sakura's shout interrupted his thoughts quite neatly.

"Yes?" Sai smiled and looked up at his teammates. As usual, they did not respond as favorably as his books had suggested they should.

Naruto took the time to send one harassed and battered looking clone over to yell, "Could you get off your ass and help!?"

"But you look like you're doing well," Sai said looking over the field. Sakura had a rather painful grip on Ino's hair. Ino returned the favor by scraping her foot down Sakura's shin, hard. Shadow clones were formed and destroyed in a matter of seconds as a larger than life Chouji pounded away at anything that moved. Shikamaru leaned against a tree between the two separate fights sending shadow tendrils out to trip up Sakura and Naruto when it looked like they were getting the advantage.

Assured that his assessment wasn't off, Sai went back to his scroll. He drew a second line. It didn't inspire him any more than the first one had. He was considering a third when the scroll was ripped out of his hands and his attention was transferred to his furious teammates.

Sai smiled, "Yes?"

-

Ino got bored of watching within the first ten minutes and dragged Chouji off. Shikamaru laid down on the ground to watch clouds. He occasionally sent out a shadow tendril to trip up any of Team 7 who got too close to him. Later on Kakashi would declare the training a success, but Yamoto would scare the kids shitless regardless.

-

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	33. Cuddly

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: None.

Notes: Just something that came up in an RP that expanded on it's own. Sakura just always struck me as being a dog person. It just got exaggerated in the RP.

Woman's Best Friend   
by fairady

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-

Sakura had a _thing_. It wasn't a thing that was commonly known, she tried her hardest to hide it from those she knew. It wasn't easy but she managed. She was actually quite proud of how well she'd kept her secret in a village full of nosy ninja. To date, there were only two people in the Village who knew about it.

The first was Kakashi, who would have probably found out about it through observation if she hadn't reluctantly fessed up to it first. At least that was the reasoning she used to force herself to tell him. It had been utterly mortifying, and the pervert hadn't helped by calling her kinky afterwards. Chasing him around for the rest of the day had helped her turn most of it to anger though.

The second person who knew about it was Kiba, and he'd found out quite by accident. Yes, it was accidental. She refused to acknowledge that he'd found out because she became too careless. Kiba had looked at her oddly before shrugging and calling her crazy. She'd kindly returned the favor by healing his cracked skull before he woke up.

It worked out somehow. Between Kakashi and Kiba, Sakura managed to keep herself satisfied.

"Dammit, Sakura!" Kiba growled in annoyance, kicking at one of her feet. "Gimme my dog back!"

"No!" Sakura stopped cooing long enough to say. Akamaru, tongue lolling and bushy tail sending dust up with each thump, gave a short bark of agreement. "See!? Little Cutie wants to stay with me!"

The minor annoyance dealt with Sakura went back to scratching the dog's ears. Unlike some of Kakashi's nin-dogs, Akamaru didn't mind her being around as long as there was ear scratching and a good belly rub in it for him.

"Yeah? Well 'Little Cutie' is a fucking traitor!" Kiba glared down at them, before flopping down onto his back. "Seriously, you need to get your own dog."

Sakura and 'Little Cutie' easily ignored the sulking boy in favor of a nice game of fetch.

-

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	34. Remembrance

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Spoilers for recent manga chapters.

Notes: Done to death already. But there are just some events that all writers have to address to lock in a new aspect of a character. This is just part of mine.

Remembrance   
by fairady

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-

Shikamaru doubles over and coughs hard enough to bring tears to his eyes. Chouji watches as the fit passes, and Shikamaru brings the cigarette back up. He doesn't say anything as the coughing starts again. Shikamaru doggedly finishes the cigarette.

The rock at the base of the memorial stone is blackened in a certain spot, and Shikamaru only adds to it as he finally snuffs the butt out. He steps back until his shoulder brushes Chouji's. "See you next year, Asuma."

Chouji shakes his head when Shikamaru turns to look at him. He's already had his own talk with their teacher, and has nothing left to say. To Asuma anyway. To Shikamaru he has plenty. "Let's go home."

-

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	35. Numb

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Spoilers for currentish manga issues, and strong language?

Notes: Challenge entry for the LJ community Naruto100, Sin. Set several years after Ch. 338. Just me stopping to really think about how much it's got to suck to be Hidan after several years pass.

Numb   
by fairady

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-

_What is Hell?_

A question for philosophers that he had been to impatient to listen to before, but one that he now knows the answer to.

Hell is immortality. Which is as much gift as punishment given to all of God's priests. A sign of their Sins that they have to repent for before they are accepted into His cold embrace. It's being alive and unable to do anything. It's being buried under a crushing weight of dirt and rock. It's chewing the soil in your mouth because that's all that you can do. It's not being able to breath, blink, see, hear, fucking _scream_. It's being stuck in your head with nothing else but your own thoughts to drive you mad. It's counting the days that pass by so slowly the only way you can tell is by reciting all your prayers, imagining all your rituals in exacting detail. It takes six hours to remember.

_Four times a day, twenty-eight times a week, eighty-four times a month-_

Except it's never that simple. Never that _fucking_ simple!

Hell is realizing one day _-weeks, months, years, how fucking long has it been!?-_ that you've lost count. You don't know if it's day or night, you don't know if it's been a day since your defeat or a year. It's realizing that you are buried for all of eternity and the only thing you have left is your own mind. But even that isn't really whole anymore.

Hell is turning to your own memories, your own religion...

_For God is dual; omniscient and flawed. He is divinity and he is mortality. God knows all while knowing nothing. The duality is the key. For in it He is perfect through His imperfections. And God is- God is-_

...and finding it changed. It's knowing it is changed, but not knowing what has changed.

_His God, the God of Death and Shadows. The Will of Fire that shapes the World into His choosing. This is His Will, His punishment. For he has sinned greatly, his hands stained with the Sin that marked him. His God's gift is his punishment, for now he can do nothing but repent and repent and repent and-_

It's not really caring that something so fundamental has changed. Not caring that one day _-time, what is it?-_ you won't notice it's wrong anymore.

_And God demanded their sacrifices, their lives to be spared for pain, and so said -unto, into, onto- them, "You're fucked."_

**This** is Hell. This is the hell his God has given him.

_My God, my God, my God-_

_-_

_- _


	36. Pretty

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit. 

Warnings: Dark, AU, possible character death.

Notes: Bit of thought running around since Sasori showed up. Thoughts on his puppets and possible mental stability.

Pretty  
by fairady

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-

"Pity your hair is so short," Sasori admired the rich pink shade for a moment before clipping it back. Her hair was far too short to pin back properly, but he was able to make do with what he had. "I'll look for material to extend it."

"'Material?' Don't you mean people?" She snapped frustration clear.

"It will be hard to find a match," He continued, already well used to her frequent outbursts. Dyes would help to blend any match that was slightly off, but he was loathe to resort to a chemical solution. He could easily lose her natural color in the process. "I could add on length with a different color until then. Red or black would contrast well."

"Why do I bother?" Bitterness was another thing he was used to hearing from her. "Go for red, hopefully it'll give people some warning."

"Later," Sasori circled her once, inspecting her for any flaws. The clothes were loose enough to not impede movement, and still allowed her to blend in with a crowd. Her hair was too short, but he'd already planed to fix that later. Her face though... "You need to smile."

"I have no reason to," She said.

"You're going home," He traced the curve of faintly colored cheeks reminding himself to retouch the paint as well. He formed the familiar seals and the genjutsu settled over her face. The illusion would take care of that for the moment. "You should be happy."

The illusion gave her wooden face an expression, a _broken_ one. This time his puppet's lips moved when she spoke, "Not when it's to bring them death."

-

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	37. ZMissions

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: Humor!

Notes: Just more random thoughts that made me smile. I'd really love to see the results of this mission though. Why? Because I'm evil.

Z Rank  
by Fairady

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-

Z rank missions were a fairly common practice between Villages that were allied. Officially it was excused as a way to facilitate cooperative relations between the Villages, and as a not so shady way of inflating revenue. Unofficially it was a way to keep the higher ranked shinobi on their toes, and to give the Village that came out on top bragging rights.

Looking at the request from Suna, Tsunade had to admit that her village was getting owned in that area. Not through any lack of ideas on her part. No, it was simply that Sabaku no Gaara was a goldmine for Z missions. One that any Village would be hard pressed to match.

"Shizune," Tsunade paused thoughtfully as she mulled over her choices. Gai would be a good one given his enthusiasm. However...

Tsunade smiled at her assistant, a broad teeth baring grin that made Shizune shiver. "Give this to that Hatake brat."

Gai would've scarred the poor boy for life, which would give her village the advantage. Hatake on the other hand would scar the boy for life _and_ set him up so that he could terrorize his village in an entirely different way. Double points and a bonus for her!

Really, Suna should've known better than to request a sex-ed tutor from Konoha of all places.

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	38. Hokage?

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: Cracky what-if? AU.

Notes: Really, Shikamaru wouldn't be a good Hokage. He'd be absolutely horrible at it, and he'd hate having the job. The perks though just might make it worth it to him.

Hokage?  
by Fairady

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-

Shikamaru wasn't the type of person a Hokage should be.

He wasn't a people person. He didn't love or even particularly _like_ most people in the Village. Granted, he only actively hated and wished death onto a small portion of them. Which had put him ahead of the only other candidate considered by the council. Not hard when that other person was Dai.

Still, Shikamaru had been raised in Konoha, and that meant an unshakable belief that the Hokage shouldn't seriously consider sending certain people out on solo suicide missions simply because he didn't like them. Missions like taking down the Akatsuki or helping the Kazekage overcome a case of the wild hiccups. He could wish it all he wanted, of course, but nothing more.

It was just one of the many and varied reasons why Shikamaru wasn't good Hokage material. It hadn't gotten him out of the job when he'd pointed it out to the council though. They hadn't seemed to care then about that flaw or any of the many other ones he'd pointed out. He _had_ warned them so the council couldn't bitch him out for not performing to a true Hokage's standard.

The voice that wasn't quite his conscious appeased, Shikamaru wrote, "Jumping out from a dark alley is a good scare tactic," as a suggestion on getting rid of the hiccups before sending the mission to be delivered to one Uchiha Sasuke.

He wasn't a good Hokage, but damn if he wasn't enjoying it anyway.

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	39. Scroll

**Disclaimer**: If I owned these characters Sasuke would be bitch slapped in every chapter. Since that isn't happening I guess I don't own them.

**Warnings**: Angsty introspective.

**Notes**: Ah, I had a point to make about balance but don't remember the whole reasoning. It was based somewhere in the chuunin exams where Iruka explains about the scrolls, but I don't have those chapters with me to refresh my mind.

Heaven and Earth  
by Fairady

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-

Heaven. Earth.

She'd forgotten about it. She --no _they_, because Naruto was as guilty as she-- had completely forgotten about it.

They'd been so focused on their goal. Training their bodies to become stronger, faster, and better. Learning jutsus and grabbing for any chance to gain combat experience. What ever it took to prepare them to find their errant teammate and bring him back home. Kicking and screaming the whole way if need be.

And they _were_ good. How many people could boast of being able to defeat two members of Akatsuki, after all? They'd improved so much in such a short time. Sakura hadn't doubted for a moment after that fight that they would bring Sasuke back.

They'd find him and steal him away from Orochimaru. They'd destroy that bastard if needed, and Sasuke would listen to them. He'd hear them and finally understand that his place was in Konoha. With them.

Pity it didn't work that way.

Sasuke hadn't wanted to go back, Sasuke wouldn't _let_ them take him back, Sasuke was still so much stronger than either of them could have dreamt of. All of Naruto's training was useless; he wasn't strong enough to beat Sasuke. All of Sakura's training was useless; she wasn't smart enough to talk him back.

Naruto wanted to use his _own_ strength to best Sasuke in a fight, to fulfill his promise and bring his friend back. Sasuke had no problem with using the power of others, he had only his dream of vengeance to fulfill and he was no one's friend. Naruto wanted to hold back, Sasuke didn't.

Sakura had wanted to talk to Sasuke, to convince him he wasn't doing right and that he could still come back. Sasuke was done listening to others, it didn't matter to him if what he was doing was right as long as it gave him power, and turning back had never been an option. Sakura had still harbored the romantic fantasies of love fixing everything. Sasuke had no such illusions about that weakness.

Dreams and reality should never meet so suddenly. It only left behind bright shards that cut so deeply into people, reminding them that they were only human. With all the pitfalls and sins that came with it.

Heaven and Earth. They'd forgotten the basic lesson Iruka had taught them all years ago. As the ground drank Sakura's tears, her eyes looked to the sky. They forgot and they paid for it.

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	40. Check

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or it's characters, please direct you attention to Kishimoto for that. If I actually owned these characters I swear I would've killed Kiba out of pure frustration a long time ago.

Warnings: Nada.

Notes: Ha! This bitch is done! I had the beginning and the end and it wasn't even long but it just never wanted to mesh together no matter how I tried! I blame Kiba, I can't write him worth a damn. I'm going off the assumption that this soon after the exam, Kiba still wouldn't know much about where or why Gaara has his power.

Reality Check  
by Fairady

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-

The Hidden Village of Sand was strange.

It was completely brown, there was no color anywhere just different shades of brown. Light brown, dark brown, off brown, streaked brown, spotted brown. There were probably names for all the browns he'd seen, and Shino could have easily named them, but all Kiba saw was brown. Even _black_ was brown here. It hadn't taken very long for all of Kiba's nice black shirts to attract that strange chalky dust that seemed to be everywhere, and turned them all a grayish brown. Repeated washings of the shirts hadn't helped, and he'd eventually given up on it.

He hadn't given up on getting Akamaru back though. Despite the fact that the pup was almost entirely gray after a week even though Kiba'd bathed him just about every day. It didn't help that he'd roll around in the sand after every bath despite Kiba's best efforts to stop him.

The food was strange too. It had more oil and spices than any food should have. It made Kiba pause more than once, and his stomach was as close to cast-iron as one could get. The bread served with every meal helped a lot. Though even that was strange, in a good way. A large and flat bread that hardened the longer it was in the air. Kiba liked to let it sit for a while so that it was nice and crunchy when he got around to eating it.

The people though were what was really strange about the Village. It wasn't just limited to the shinobi either, _everyone_ in the Village was a little strange. They always had that holier-than-thou attitude that really grated on his nerves. You couldn't even ask for the time without getting stared down from some almighty throne. If it weren't for the fact that Kiba damn well knew the Hokage would personally kick his ass, he would've screwed up the diplomatic part of his mission the first time a _civilian_ vendor had spat in his direction.

Really, it was like Suna didn't want to keep up the treaty between their villages. Which was probably the case since they always paired him up with Sabaku no Gaara. Well, him and whatever Leaf representative came along. Kiba honestly couldn't think of a better way to put a peace treaty to a quick death than to let a psychotically powerful psycho escort the diplomats around.

It was a miracle that Kiba was still alive, but he had the disturbing feeling that was mostly due to the fact that Gaara was testing out a new form of killing. Probably trying to see if he could drive Kiba to suicide by not saying one single word to him, and just staring at him all damn day long.

He was damned if he was going to let all of the strangeness get to him though. The Hokage had given him this mission for some reason that must've made sense to her, and he wasn't about to go back and tell her he'd failed. Kiba could play nice for a few months. Even if the people were unpleasant, the food was strange, the dust stuck to everything, and creepy Gaara followed him everywhere.

Except...it wasn't happening?

Kiba stopped abruptly causing Kankurou, his temporary escort, to stop as well. It took a minute for his mind to catch up to what was happening around him. No. What wasn't happening!

All the stares, fearful and hateful, were gone. No one looked at him twice now and whispers didn't spring up as he passed. Children didn't run away and the old women who'd spat in his path before didn't even look at him twice.

He felt like the idiot Shino sometimes called him. They didn't do all of it for him, because it wasn't about him he realized. It wasn't that he was a ninja of the Leaf who had beaten them so badly.

It was Gaara.

Kiba shut his mouth and turned back to Kankurou. The Jounin was giving him an odd look. "Why," Kiba frowned and tried to put words to his unease, "Why do they treat Gaara like that?"

"That?" Kankurou parroted back. "You wanna be more specific than 'that,' mutt?"

Kiba growled lowly and gestured around them, "The people. They glare, run, and- and they talk!"

He realized he wasn't being very helpful, but he really couldn't put it into better words. Fortunately the other nin seemed to have gotten his point.

"You're just realizing that now?" Kankurou laughed. "How dumb are you?"

"Shut up," Kiba snapped back. "I thought it was just me. Cause you know I'm an outsider and all."

Kankurou shook his head and continued to laugh. It wasn't a very pleasant laugh. It was harsh and full of bitter anger, "Simply put, dog boy, they're afraid of him."

Yeah, he could see that. Anyone who wasn't at least a little afraid of Gaara was either incredibly stupid or named Uzumaki. Not that either of those two groups could be considered separate. Gaara was a freaky guy who you really didn't want to meet in a dark alley, or any sort of alley for that matter. Hell, you were usually just better off not meeting him at all.

Gaara was insane. Kiba didn't know what else he could call a person that never slept. He knew how he got after a day of not sleeping, he couldn't imagine what an entire lifetime of not sleeping had done to Gaara. He killed quickly and without feeling, never giving anyone warning. He almost never talked. Not even to tell the Leaf nin to shut up, a feat that considerably impressed Kiba since he'd spent the past few months doing nothing but babble at him. Most people would've cracked after a week.

Probably good that Gaara hadn't or Kiba might've gone through some cracking of his own. And he would dearly love to hear the explanation behind Gaara's blood line one of these days.

"Well," Kiba said, "that sucks."

Kiba walked on taking his time to marvel at the city now that the citizens weren't scrambling for cover. He walked two feet before he realized that Kankurou was no longer beside him. The Leaf nin turned and found the other had stopped behind him, face screwed up like he'd just eaten a lemon. Kiba frowned, "What?"

Kankurou looked at him and shook his head. The puppeteer slowly sank to his knees and placed his head in his hands shoulders shaking. Concerned, Kiba took a few steps forward before he heard the first laugh.

Kankurou laughed loud and long. Loud peals of laughter that shook the puppeteer's frame like something was hysterically funny. Food vendors looked out of their stalls and people went out of their way to avoid them.

Kiba stood frozen and watched the nin with morbid fascination. He didn't know what it was about what he had said that set Kankurou off on a minor breakdown, and he wasn't going to risk his life to find out. Slowly the laughter dried up and the puppeteer regained control of himself.

"What was that about?" Kiba asked warily.

Kankurou looked up and solemnly said, "It does suck."

Kiba knew he was missing something, that he didn't know the full story behind what was going on. Which was perfectly fine by him. He had a feeling that if he did he'd feel more horrified as he started to laugh with Kankurou.

-

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	41. ChildMother

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or it's characters, and I make no money off this. So please don't sue me. I'm going to need all the money I have to pay my heating bills when I get back home.

Warnings: Death, dark, OC, and rather a experimental drabble.

Notes: This came from an image I had. Nothing leading up to it, nothing leading away. Just a dark and striking image. Hence the rather strange style attempting to show the picture instead of tell it.

Child-Mother  
by fairady

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He slows to a stop. The targets have been found and it doesn't look like they're going to be fighting anymore.

The pink-haired girl sits with her back against a tree. Straight despite the obvious pain it causes. Blood streaks her face and clothes leading down to the two heads nestled firmly in her lap. The bodies are still and he knows they won't ever move again.

Just one more target then. Heavily injured and obviously not going anywhere.

He leaves cover and walks out confidently. The girl notices him but makes no move to escape or defend herself. Good. She knows to not fight the inevitable.

Closer and he can see her hands moving. He falters, but it's only her fingers moving through the blond and black hair of the corpses in a gesture that was meant to be soothing. There is no threat there.

Even closer and he sees her eyes are green. Very green and very old. They stare straight up at him, unflinching as he flips a kunai from his pouch. Those eyes are older than the girl, but he's seen them before.

He's seen those eyes in the jilted mistress of a merchant refusing to let the shadows any closer to the tiny cradle. He's seen them in a missing nin clutching a bundle of cloth as the hunters close in. He's seen them in the charred meat of a woman stumbling out of a burning house and dying as the child she held lived. It's a dark and burning rage only mothers experience, it's that one last desperate act where nothing matters but saving the child.

He's never seen it in someone who is still a child. Never seen it in a mother who obviously isn't the real mother. Never seen it in a mother whose children are already dead.

It's something new. This child, this mother holding her dead sons who aren't hers. Green eyes glaring their dark fury up at him contrasting so sharply with the youth of her face. The newness, the uniqueness of it captures his attention completely until he realizes he can't move.

The child-mother holds up a smoking seal. Only now does he see the exploding notes carefully placed around her. Carefully hidden to make a cage of fire and death. He fights the trap holding his feet to the ground but knows he will not be fast enough.

Peace and satisfaction settle over the girl's green eyes like a blanket.

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	42. Shinobi

Disclaimer: I own not and Sasuke is very glad of this I'm sure.

Warnings: Bwahahahaha! Nothing.

Notes: Heh, TenTen is a little indignant about some misconceptions.

Shinobi  
by Fairady

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-

Despite what most people assume should be a _given_, TenTen isn't a medic.

She doesn't buy into all that nonsense about a woman's role. Being a medic is a mindset, anyone can do it. The fact is that the mindset needed for being a medic is closely related to the one they impose on a kunoichi. It's easy for a kunoichi to become a medic because they don't have to learn to think differently. That's why a lot of the medics out there are female.

That's why TenTen _isn't_.

TenTen doesn't think like a kunoichi. Her first response is to attack, not defend. She doesn't look for ways to trick or confuse, she looks for ways to overwhelm and win. The only flowers her hands touch are ones that can be thrown with deadly accuracy. The only time she looks beautiful is when she's sweating and bloody. TenTen thinks like a shinobi.

That's why her team has no medic at all. Out of them all only Neji would be able to become one, him being the only one who thought in terms of defense, but they had decided early on that the drawbacks would be too great. As a team their strength was in their sheer strength. Having one person hold back just to conserve their energy for healing would have killed that.

So, TenTen isn't a medic. It's a simple idea that should really be obvious, but the way most people react --with gaping mouths begging for a fist-- it's almost as if the whole concept is alien to them.

That attitude would bother her more if it didn't give her such perfect opportunities to practice her aim.

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	43. Mob

Disclaimer: I own not and make no money. I'm too tired and overworked to claim otherwise.

Warnings: Eh, none?

Notes: Entry for an LJ interest challenge, this one was for Gaara. For some reason he's not that easy to write. Don't think I quite got him down here. Set after the Rescue Gaara arc.

Mob Rule  
by Fairady

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It's hard to understand the world.

No. It's hard to understand _people_. The world was orderly and followed a set pattern that, while not always predictable, could at least be depended on. People on the other hand were neither predictable nor dependable.

It's a fact that Gaara has come to accept. Acknowledging that fact helps him deal with the --frequent-- times when he badly misjudges a person. Or an entire _village_.

Gaara looked up at the messenger trying to figure out where he went wrong this time, "They want what?"

It had taken Gaara two weeks to convince Baki to take the mantle of Kazekage. His former sensei had not wanted to even listen to his reasons at first, and even after convincing him to _listen_ Gaara had to fight hard to get Baki to accept it. Which he very reluctantly did, eventually.

It had taken three days after that for Temari to accept the change. Two of those days had been spent keeping her from murdering Baki, and convincing her that it was all Gaara's idea.

Another five days were spent getting Kankurou to _calm down_ and disband the group he'd gathered for an impromptu coup. (Though so far, nothing anyone has done or said has stopped him from blaming --frequently and loudly-- Baki for Gaara's decision.)

It had taken another two days of solid talking and assurances from Gaara himself before _that_ group was willing to accept the change in power and disarm themselves. The amount of weaponry they'd gathered in that short time was--impressive to say the least.

Six days after that, the Anbu guards following Gaara reluctantly accepted that he wasn't their Kazekage anymore, but refused to leave him unprotected. (It's an ongoing debate between himself and them, but Gaara isn't sure he ever will win this one.)

Given all of those problems almost two months passed before the rest of the village were finally informed of Gaara's abdication in favor of a stronger Kazekage. A full two months of constant, private talking and assurances that did absolutely nothing to prepare Gaara for the sheer chaos that followed the public announcement.

The entire council was being held _hostage_.

Gaara stared at the messenger from Baki --no, the _Kazekage_-- but the jounin didn't waiver or correct his words. "They want what!?"

"The people have demanded your reinstatement, Ka- sir," the messenger was one of the people Gaara had to personally reassure in the first month, and was doing a very poor job of hiding his grin. "They are perfectly willing to do anything necessary to achieve their goals. Sir."

"What does B-" Gaara frowned at the slip. "What does the Kazekage propose?"

The jounin's smile widened and he produced a scroll. A very familiar looking scroll, it looked a lot like the one he'd given to Baki two months ago. Though it was easy to see that the ink on this one was still wet, "He's already given up his position and reinstated you, Kazekage. Baki suggests you free the council yourself."

An almost smug vibe was coming from the shadows his guard occupied. Not even a year ago the news of his abdication would have been met with a celebration. Ink smeared across his fingers as he rolled the scroll up. It just proved once again how unpredictable people were.

He would never fully understand it.

"Fine," Gaara stood up, ignoring the guards that appeared and the salute the messenger sketched. He could only hope they'd return the favor in ignoring the heat washing across his face. "I'll inform the people of the change."

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	44. Gains

Disclaimer: I own not and the recent event in manga make me think that Kishimoto still has it all under control.

Warnings: Nothing.

Notes: The pinkcrack community on LJ is trying to get a drabble for all Sakura ships, so I thought I'd try my hand at a few that were unanswered. And Chouji just needs more love. How can anyone say no when he uses his puppy face?

Gain and Lose  
by Fairady

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"I'm on a diet," Sakura almost said in an automatic refusal. She was getting perilously close to not being able to fit in her clothes, and the bag of greasy potato chips would probably be the last calories that sent her over. The only problem was that it was Chouji offering her those greasy chips, and no one ever rejected an Akimichi's offer of food. Not if you didn't want to insult the whole clan. Or watch Chouji's cheerful face and big frame droop making him look like an abused puppy.

Which he was starting to do now as Sakura took too long with her answer.

"Thank you!" Sakura smiled and quickly snatched the smallest looking chip she could set. She could wear that horrible track suit her father had bought her until she could burn the weight off.

Chouji practically beams as falls into step with her, and that makes all the trouble worth it. Then they turn a corner and she realizes Chouji's been subtly leading her when she sees the street lined with food vendors.

"Would you like some lunch?" Chouji asks pointing to a nearby stall. Delicious smells were coming from it, and she could almost _feel_ the seams of her shorts giving way. "My treat."

"Sure," Sakura agrees with an internal sigh and fond farewell to her figure. It was about time she bought herself some new clothes anyway.

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	45. Liar

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: Death.

Notes: Response for a 50 word meme, and probably the only time I will ever write this pairing. Enjoy.

Liar  
by Fairady

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Sasuke is back.

He holds Sakura as she cries. Says he's sorry, he loves her, and it'll be fine.

She kisses him.

Desperate and full of passion and love. It tastes of blood and tears and hope. She pulls back and whispers, "Liar."

The kunai slides neatly between his ribs.

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	46. Desperate

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: AU speculation on my part. Perhaps a little spoilerish.

Notes: My thoughts on the fallout of the destruction and death going on right now. Probably not as bad as it will turn out, but I'm going with the worst case scenario here.

Desperate  
by Fairady

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Sakura crouched on the roof across from the warehouse and watched as the first flickering of flames shone through the windows. It was still light enough outside that the fire went unnoticed in the busy streets for several minutes. The heat of the summer probably kept the people inside the building from noticing anything as well. It didn't matter what kept people from noticing it, all that mattered was that when an alarm was raised twenty minutes after Sakura hid herself it was already too late to do anything.

This was a dispute between two wealthy grainery merchants. A cruel game of sabotage that was measured in the amount of profit lost, and the reluctance in customers to support one over the other. The two men had allowed their pride to get involved in and take over what had started as a minor dispute over a vendor.

This was the sixth building she'd burned down. Four for Rafu and three for Jiro. It was tricky to string them both along, both men demanded so much of her time just to think of ways to ruin the other that it took very careful wording on her part to pull the whole thing off.

This was the first one where she'd been given explicit instructions to leave the workers inside.

It was petty. An act of commercial intimidation that Konoha had rarely condoned before. Tsunade would never have-

No. Tsunade was dead.

Sakura shifted further back as acrid smoke got into her eyes causing them to burn and water. Blinking rapidly she managed to keep an eye on the burning building and the frantic crowd below. Despite her best effort a few tears escaped, but at least it made here eyes stop burning.

"You alright?" Ino asked from the shadows behind Sakura.

"Yes," Sakura lied easily enough these days. She'd been ruthless in eliminating all of her so called 'tells'. The building burned and still no one came out of it. No one who wasn't supposed to that is. She watched the shadowy figures melt away before anyone else noticed. "How much did we get?"

"Most of it," Ino shifted, the scratchy cloth of her civilian clothes rustling more than it should. "A quarter of what was there burned, but we should have enough to last through winter now."

No Konoha shinobi would approve of stealing supplies while completing a mission. If caught the act would quickly spread, casting an unwanted light of desperation on Konoha. A shame they never would recover from except-

Konoha was no more. All that was left were a broken assortment of civilians and ninja with no place to go. Clinging to each other because they really were that desperate, and shame meant nothing when it took everything they had to simply survive.

Sakura watched the burning building long after she'd confirmed all of the workers were dead. Those men who had families and children, whose only wrongs had been to work at the wrong place on the wrong day. She stayed until she felt a little guilty at the relief she'd felt earlier. Then she left to collect her pay from Jiro.

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	47. Blood

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: Dark and twisty. Just a little.

Notes: I got nothing.

Blood Pink  
by Fairady

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There's blood in Sakura's hair.

Yamato notices this as they silently slip back into the cover of the trees leaving behind the lifeless remains of a scouting party. It's the color that catches his eyes. Bright red against her natural pink. There's enough of it to almost make the color look natural. As if she'd dyed streaks of her hair red like he's noticed civilian girls are doing these days. Just a little more red --one or two more bodies-- and Yamato thinks Sakura would look like a red-head with pink streaks.

He blinks once and turns his focus back to where it should be. Scanning the ground they're running across for traps, and the forest around them for any signs of the enemy. This isn't the first time they've run across a group of the enemy, and he's fairly certain it won't be the last.

He's right, of course. They find two more scouting groups before their patrol is finished, and it takes three more bodies to make Sakura look like a natural red-head.

The sun is setting when they make their way back to the outpost. Weary and looking forward to what little rest they'll get. Sakura trudges along in front of him, and Yamato can see in the fading light that the blood isn't red anymore. It's dried up and gels the short strands together. Spiking her hair up where she's run her hands through it. It's darker now too, a dull brown that somehow matches with the pink that flashes through.

Blood, Yamato has discovered, looks good on Sakura. Fresh or dried, her own or another's, it doesn't matter; the young woman is beautiful when she's covered in blood. Yamato blinks once and turns his focus onto the outpost, forcefully turning his mind to planning out tomorrow's patrol and carefully avoiding Sakura's eyes.

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	48. MSP

Warnings: Mine humor?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or it's characters, and I make no money off this. So please don't sue me. I think I'm gonna need all my money.

Notes: Found this on a scrap of paper in my closet. It amuses me enough to type it up.

MSP  
by Fairady

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It was a quiet day in Konoha. Well, as quiet as an active village of ninjas could ever get, which wasn't as quiet as most would think. Aside from the random echoes of an exploding tags, the cacophony of barking, the endless chirping of birds --or was that a Chidori?-- the peacefulness of the day was broken only by the tolling of a great bell.

No, not any bell but **The** Bell.

Slow and somber the pealing struck fear and dread in the hearts of citizens. For a few heart stopping seconds the village was truly quiet as everyone looked to the skies for the message that would come with the warning.

From the gates two falcons streaked towards the Hokage's tower. A small ribbon of blue, barely visible from the ground, was wrapped around one's talons. Half the village let out sighs of relief and returned to their tasks, the warning bell quickly forgotten. The other half abandoned what they'd been doing and grimly returned home. It was time for them to prepare.

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Tsunade looked over her steepled fingers at the jounin. "What do we know?"

Shizune flipped through the few papers she'd just been handed, skimming them for the important bits. "The Hyuuga compound is in lockdown and their most likely targets are barricaded up in the main house. Anbu have already taken Kakashi's team to an undisclosed location."

"Good," Tsunade turned to Hana. "Report."

"We have teams patrolling the area around the gates, and a few are getting ready to head into the forest," Hana said in a soft growl. The young woman was clearly annoyed, but held it in rather well. She only bared her teeth in a silent snarl every few minutes now. "We also got every target locked up and guarded."

"_Every_one?" Tsunade asked with a pointed look.

"Yes, my idiot brother learned his lesson last time," Hana smirked briefly. "He was the first to report in after the warning was sent."

"The boy can learn," Tsunade turned to the last jounin. "Report."

Kurenai's voice and expression were a grim as her words, "They've taken out the first line before the men could get any warning out. A team has been sent to see what is left."

"'They?'" Tsunade questioned sharply.

"We have a report that there are two," Kurenai's lips pursed briefly in distaste, or perhaps anger. "The sentry was barely lucid enough to give even that much information, but all other reports indicate that this is true."

"One is bad enough, two is unthinkable," Tsunade fairly growled as she turned and glared out over the village. Seconds passed in complete silence as each jounin waited patiently for their orders to deal with the enemy. "Move all preparations up to the final stage."

Kurenai and Hana saluted before disappearing. Tsunade stood up from her chair and reached for her official robes. She nodded to Shizune and they set out for the main gates. Anbu fell into place around them giving no sign that many of them had to be called up on their off-duty hours.

"We have working protocols for one," Tsunade said aloud so that all the women could hear her. "If one gets in it's not a significant threat, but two cannot be allowed! These creatures feed on each-other, they get stronger when they're in packs. I don't care what you have to do, do not let both enter the village!"

Grim silence answered her. Each one of her shinobi knew the consequences well. A squad of kunoichi already guarded the gates when they arrived. Three more waited just out of sight. Tsunade stepped up and scanned the far off line of trees. Movement caught her eyes and she looked over in time to see Hana give a signal before melting back into the shadows, three smaller shadows following her low to the ground.

"Whatever you do," Tsunade said, low enough for her voice not to carry beyond the gates. "Do _not_ let these Mary-Sues into the village!"

From the forest, two teenage girls emerged and made their way to the gates.

-

It was a quiet day in Konoha. Sure, there were screams and explosions and the distinct sounds of battle coming from the East, but that was pretty normal in an active village of ninjas. Not many people paid attention the all too common noise. Not until The Bell began to sound. Again, all eyes turned to the sky. Some were anxious, others merely curious.

A falcon streaked across the sky, two blood-red ribbons clutched in it's talons.

Across the village some people turned back to their everyday business, and others gave out sighs of relief. Konoha was safe for another day.

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	49. sweet

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or storyline, Kishimoto does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Warnings: Dark and twisty. Just a little.

Notes: More Shika/Shizune. Got nothing else.

Sweet  
by Fairady

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Shizune smelled sweet. It wasn't very descriptive as far as descriptions went, but Shikamaru honestly didn't have anything else. She smelled sweet, almost like some of that sugary candy Chouji used to eat but not quite like it. It was a scent that he had never smelled before so he could only call it by what his mind automatically associated it with.

Sweet.

It wasn't until he leaned against a wall in Shizune's personal laboratory that he was able to finally place it. He hooked the Anbu mask on his belt and went over the mission details again as he waited for the last component for the assassination. Ingredients were ground to a fine dust, pots boiled under a vent, and test tubes were swirled to change one substance into another. The end result was a single vial of light blue liquid.

Shizune carefully sealed it with red wax before turning to him. She smiled, a little embarrassed but the pride in her eyes was unmistakable, "It's my best compound. You won't need to use much and it's very quick."

Shikamaru accepted the vial and looked at it. Holding it up to look at it he caught the faint scent that had escaped the seal. It was a sweet smell. It smelled like Shizune. Shizune smelled like poison.

"Oh," Shikamaru said and immediately felt like an idiot. Of course she would smell like poison, she was the best alchemist in the village and probably spent most of her days mixing batches of the stuff for use.

Placing her scent shouldn't have felt like such a revelation, but it did. It left him almost reeling, confused about _why_ he was even bothering to put so much thought into the way she smelled.

"Good luck, captain," Shizune smiled again. This one was bright and sincere, as sweet to see as the perfume of poison she wore. "I'm sure you won't need it though."

"I think I did need it," Shikamaru ignored Shizune's confused expression letting all the facts and confusion settle into the back of his mind as he reminded himself about the mission. He stowed the poison away carefully and pulled the mask on. He'd figure this out later.

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	50. Noise

Disclaimer: I own not and make no money off of this.

Warnings: Dark.

Notes: Introspective, just a mood piece. Search for a song by the same title for music that matches.

Blood Make Noise  
by Fairady

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Blood always left a mark. Whether it be on a person or a place, it always left a stain.

Blood pools between fingers and sticks under nails. It soaks into hair and beads like sweat on skin. Water and soap will wash it off. A stiff brush and patience will get it out from under the nails. A hot shower with the right shampoo cleans the hair. It's easy to get blood off the body, but it's impossible to get the blood stains out of the soul.

Blood stays on the hands, thicker and warmer than any liquid should be. It made lifting cups heavier and shakier than it should be. Blood collected in a person's eyes slowly coloring everything in its dark color until a person went mad. Blood stains a person making even the most angelic and saintly seem dark and forbidding. It cannot be seen on a person once washed, but its effects are plain to see in their eyes.

Blood pools on floors and sprays across walls. It darkens rocks and soaks into the ground. It dilutes in the whorls of water and beads like dew on leaves. It gleams dully in the sun, and shines ethereally under the moon. Floors and walls can be scrubbed clean with strong cleaners and stronger Justus. Rocks can be burned clean and soil could be churned. Water is its own cleaner and leaves are easily cut off. The light of day is bright and hot making it easier to find and dispose of the dried flecks of blood. While the cool light of the moon shimmers off of what was hidden in the day.

Blood soaks into buildings giving them a life and presence not found in newer buildings. It gives life to the land pulling forth vivid life that can only come from the blood of the dead. Water runs dark and deep hiding its dangers and the victims that line the bottom of rivers. The bright sunlight makes it all look normal contrasting sharply with the knowledge that it isn't. The pale moon makes it all surreal casting shadows that look like memories.

Blood stains the world and haunts those who spill it.

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End file.
